The government
funded not-for-profit tasked with growing the Australian cyber security sector
– AustCyber – says it will work with businesses of all sizes to ensure the
encryption bill is implemented “in a way that minimises the economic impact” upon
them.

As part
of that work it will issue a communications toolkit to help firms convince their
customers, investors and supply chains about “the ongoing integrity and
sustainability of Australia’s sovereign cyber security capabilities”.

The Australian
technology sector has been broadly critical of the Telecommunications and
Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 which is intended
to help police and national security agencies intercept and access encrypted
communications.

Some industry
leaders, such
as Senetas founder Francis Galbally, have claimed the bill
will “profoundly undermine” the reputation of
Australian software and hardware manufacturers in international markets.

Others, like Australian
electronics manufacturer Extel, have warned of billions in lost export revenue
as a direct consequence of the legislation.

The EXACT reason Huawei were banned from NBN & 5G is the fear of Chinese Government back doors. Now Liberal, Nats & ALP almost legislated requiring the same thing in Australia. This is how you kill our software industry and EVERYTHING is software now. #aabill

if the #aabill passes I just won't be able to work in Australia :( I have an ethical obligation to users of my software not to expose their data. Breaking all their crypto/security is just a non-starter.

That's okay, while the tech ecosystem burns with collapse of R&D incentives in Australia and now these useless and damaging anti cyber security #aabill laws, our neighbours in NZ are launching a new more generous R&D scheme.

“We
understand that some of our stakeholders are concerned about the impact of this
proposed legislation. AustCyber remains focused on ensuring that
Australia’s cyber security sector will continue to grow and deliver economic
and security benefits to the whole economy,” AustCyber said in a statement
today.

The Senate
and House of Representatives are expected to debate the bill later today.

AustCyber – formed in 2017 as part of the federal government’s Industry
Growth Centres Initiative – said it had requested it be briefed
as soon as possible by “relevant
officers from the Department of Home Affairs” on the bill’s “details”.

AustCyber expects to this week
release the results of a major survey of Australian cyber security firms,
carried out with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The survey was
issued to firms early last month canvassing their views on the bill and its
economic impacts.

“We certainly heard there were
concerns, and we wanted to better understand what they were. We didn’t feel
like we had the views of our stakeholders in an evidence based way that we
could actually use to inform what we did next,” AustCyber strategy chief
Belinda Newham told CIO.

The organisation initially
hoped the survey results would inform debate on the bill. Each stage of the
bills consultation and introduction has been expedited; the government in
September introducing the bill into the House of
Representatives just 10 days after closing a public consultation on an exposure
draft.

Last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted the bill be
passed before Christmas, calling on the Parliamentary
Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) to complete its scrutiny
of the bill “as quickly as possible”.

“The discussion was sped up a
bit. Obviously we still see an opportunity to help inform and guide discussions
going forward using [the survey results] as an evidence base. But yeah, we
would have liked to have provided that as part of it,” Newham said.

“We’re not trying to get into
the politics of the bill at all. It is what it is for us now, and we see that
as an opportunity to inform the ongoing advocacy and communication,” she added.

Newham would not comment on
whether or not the bill was a good thing for the local cyber security industry.

“AustCyber
remains focused on ensuring that Australia’s cyber security sector will
continue to grow and deliver economic and security benefits to the whole
economy,” she added.

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